executive summary - contactbabel summary...the us contact center decision -makers' guide...

THE US CONTACT CENTER

DECISION-MAKERS' GUIDE 2009-2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

FULL REPORT - FREE AND DOWNLOADABLE FROM WWW.CONTACTBABEL.COM

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONTENTS AND METHODOLOGY

The "US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide (2009/2010 - 3rd edition)" replaces the "US Contact Center Operational Review" as the major annual report studying the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of US contact center operations.

Taking a random sample of the industry, a detailed structured questionnaire was asked to 212 contact center managers and directors between April and August 2009. Analysis of the results was carried out August to November 2009. The result is the 3rd edition of the largest and most comprehensive study of all aspects of the US contact center industry.

Unlike previous reports, which looked at discrete solutions without prior reference to the commercial and operational issues which they address, the US Contact Center Decision-Makers' Guide first identifies seven of the major pain points and issues that affect the contact center industry:

• Improving quality and performance

• Maximizing efficiency and agent optimization

• New media and the customer of the future

• Increasing profitability

• Choosing a location

• HR management

• Strategic directions.

Within each section, specific solutions are identified that can be used to solve these issues, along with the analysis of the primary research data that are relevant to this area, including a comprehensive statistical analysis in graphical and tabular form. Third-party White Papers, case studies and thought leadership pieces are also spread throughout the document, to assist readers who may wish to look more in-depth at specific areas or gain another viewpoint.

This Executive Summary details some of the highlights of the report and provides more information on the contents of the full report, which is available free of charge from www.contactbabel.com

A Supplier Directory of organizations which provide services, products and solutions to the US contact center industry, is also available, divided by discrete category.

An Interactive Supplier Matrix, which allows readers to cross-reference specific commercial issues with the solutions available can be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet.

Both the Supplier Directory and Interactive Supplier Matrix are available without cost or need for registration from www.contactbabel.com




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SECTION 1: IMPROVING QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE

Within this section: How to improve the quality of the customer experience and allow the contact center to gain insight into each customer and agent to improve their own business strategy.

Topics include:

• Quality management and improvement: challenges and solutions: " Respondents felt that the lack of investment in systems was holding them back the most, with 33% seeing this as a major problem…"

• Quality assurance: "Directly checking what an agent has actually said - through real-time call monitoring

and post-call reviews of recordings - are seen as the most effective ways of quality assurance, providing the supervisors with touchpoints of real conversations…"

• Call recording and analytics: "Real-time analysis, and of course, the actions leading from it, can mean that

customers' hold time and call time is shorter…" • Performance management: "The supervisor’s role within a contact center can be thought of to be akin to

that of a sergeant in the army…" • The supervisor desktop: "As supervisors have a limited amount of time to spend coaching each agent -

usually no more than two hours per agent per week - it’s vital to use the same performance measurements at both supervisor and agent level."

• Management information systems and reporting: "The most important issue was the difficulty in getting

data from various systems into a format that was reliable and useful." • Customer satisfaction and complaints: "The telecoms, media and technology sector has 3.5% of its

overall calls being complaints about the service received in the contact center itself. On the other hand, the retail & distribution sector has a miniscule 0.2% of calls being about the failings of its contact center operations, although there are a very high number of complaints about the business as a whole."

• Queue management systems: "When the public was asked to estimate the time they usually spent

waiting to speak to a contact center, the average answer was 11½ minutes - 27 times longer than the reality."

• Training and coaching: "Only 30% of the typical agent’s training time is spent upon learning about their

products, services or competition…".

SECTION EXTRACT: "QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT"

Quite apart from managing costs and delivering performance, contact center managers are expected to be improving the quality of the service and interactions that customers have with the business. To achieve this is not simply a matter of dropping in a piece of technology, but rather is a continuous, ongoing process involving the input of agents, supervisors and managers, as well as targeted training and regular evaluation.




The following chart, which looks at the ideals of quality, rather than the reality, shows that the two most popular meanings of quality are those which are focused on the customer's experience, which is perhaps not a surprise. The three internal quality measurements - compliance with regulation, achieving performance targets and adherence to corporate message and brand - are far less well-supported - in theory.

Figure 1: What does 'quality' really mean within your contact center?

However, despite this idealized focus on the customer, the reality is somewhat different. 53% of respondents state that quality measurement is internal (defined and measured by the contact center's own targets) rather than an externally-focused metric (defined by the customer's own experience). This internal focus is far more likely to be the case within large contact centers, where 64% of respondents say that 'quality' is decided and measured from an internal perspective (against 45% of small contact centers and 54% of medium operations).

In cases where quality focus is said to be internal, one could argue that it is not really 'quality' that is being measured or strived towards, as it is clearly the consumer who decides on quality, rather than the producer. In these cases, the contact center has arbitrarily decided on the definition of quality, and measures that without reference to the actual customer experience. It may be that senior managers are being told that their contact centers are delivering 'quality' because they are adhering to strict processes and meeting first call resolution targets. However, in reality, their customers may not be getting the special attention that is necessary to keep them happy and loyal. Businesses have to make sure that quality control goes way beyond metrics, and strives to understand the customers' experience and opinions far more than seems to be the case for many.


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SECTION 2: MAXIMISING EFFICIENCY AND AGENT OPTIMIZATION

Within this section: Improving call throughput and decreasing costs has been a focus of most contact centers since the industry started, and few solutions or processes are considered without understanding how they will affect productivity. This section looks at ways in which contact centers can make the most of what they've got, through increasing efficiency, or by avoiding unnecessary calls in the first place.

Solutions and issues include:

• Contact center performance metrics: "Respondents’ agents spend an average of just under 60% of their time on calls, with around 15% of time spent on wrap-up, 11% on administration and 15% on idle time."

• Changes in Opex and Capex: "Both Opex and Capex budgets have been cut for many of our respondents, with 43% decreasing their Opex and 39% their Capex."

• Alternative ways of working - virtualization and homeworking: "Respondents with virtual contact centers were generally pleased with the gains in efficiency and service level that they have experienced. The ability to smooth out call spikes by moving them between contact centers, and the reduced wait times were particularly mentioned, although all of the potential virtual contact center benefits mentioned were rated positively."

• The enterprise-wide contact center: "…if the wider enterprise is not yet quite integrated into the contact center, then the demand for these services is certainly taking it that way."

• IP and convergence: " Through SIP, the value of contact center solutions is moving from routing to applications – not so much “how shall we do it?” as “what shall we do?”."

• The unified desktop: "Businesses can usually focus either on cutting costs or improving quality. However, there is a third way, which allows desktop solutions for users to be developed separately from the underlying applications, re-using existing logic and interfaces rather than replacing them."

• Voice biometrics: "Overall, the industry-wide cost of agent-handled security and identification checking is $12.4bn per year."

• CTI and call routing: "…commercial decisions not to use IVR have been made that are based around something other than cost considerations…"

• Workforce management: "Most contact centers of perhaps 25 seats upwards could benefit from more accurate forecasting and scheduling, and such businesses could look at the hosted or SaaS (software-as-a-service) model that many solution providers now offer."

• Headsets: "…agents using headsets that had digital audio processors handled an average of 10% more calls per day than did the control group".




SECTION EXTRACT: VIEWS ON HOMEWORKING

"It would be difficult to manage homeworking agents effectively"

The concern that homeworkers cannot be managed effectively from a remote location has always been a fundamental objection to this way of working. Isolation can be a problem for both agent and management, and not all roles or agents are suitable for homeworking. It is generally considered that new mothers returning to work part-time, or older people who wish to reduce their working hours but who are not yet ready to retire completely are particularly suitable to be considered for homeworking roles, which require experience and maturity in the agent.

With real-time adherence and call management systems in place, there is no real reason that a virtual contact center made up of homeworkers is more difficult to manage than a ‘typical’ operation, although the role of the team-leader (being someone to help actively) will have to be re-addressed.

Figure 2: Opinion: "It is / would be difficult to manage homeworking agents effectively"

Those contact centers with some experience of using homeworking are far more likely to be positive about management of staff. 57% of non-homeworking contact center respondents are concerned about this, but only 23% of those which have implemented some homeworking have found remote management to be any sort of a problem.


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SECTION 3: NEW MEDIA AND THE CUSTOMER OF THE FUTURE

Within this section: Currently, the most widely-used forms of non-voice customer contact (apart from letters and fax) are email and self-service, followed by SMS, text chat and web collaboration. Despite the much lower penetration rates, it is also worth discussing the presence of virtual worlds, avatars, kiosks and video agents in the customer contact mix as these are options which businesses may use to target the Internet generation as well as more technically-literate existing customers.

Topics include:

• Multimedia management and the Universal Queue: "The universal queue approach facilitates a single view of the customer across all channels, which is one of the key ways to improve the quality of service offered, as well as improving the agent’s confidence and morale."

• Email management: "Email response handling times have shown a slight improvement on 2008, as

although the proportion answered within one hour has dropped from 20% to 12%, those answered the same working day went from 27% to 52%.

• Multimedia blending: "In contact centers where fewer than half of staff were involved in multimedia/call

blending, the average attrition rate was 44%. In contact centers where more than half of staff answered multimedia and calls, average attrition was 25%.

• SMS: "Customer reaction to SMS is very positive for proactive customer service (e.g. appointment

reminders, delivery information, account balances, etc). Businesses which have implemented SMS as part of their outbound customer contact strategy are enjoying the twin benefits of high customer satisfaction and low costs".

• Text chat, web collaboration, video and IVVR: "Text chat is not a cheap channel, and some businesses

have started to offer it in the final phase of a web-browsing session, perhaps initiating a text chat session if the customer has revisited a page many times, or is pausing at the checkout process."

• Self-service: "Overall, a mean average of 13% of calls that go into the self-service option are “zeroed-out”:

instances where the customer decides that they in fact wish to speak with an operator. This figure is likely to become lower with the increasing use of speech recognition, which is usually quicker and more powerful than touchtone IVR, as well as having experienced significant recent improvements in word recognition and usability."

• The Customer of the Future: social networking and customer communities: "Researchers estimated that

in this case, the increased use of customer communities produced a return on investment of almost £8,500 for every £1 spent".




SECTION EXTRACT: SECOND LIFE AND VIRTUAL WORLDS

Second Life is an online, virtual world populated by on-screen representations of users, called avatars. Described by its makers, Linden Labs, as “a 3D, online digital world, imagined and created by its users”, ‘residents’ interact with each other and with the increasing numbers of real-world businesses which are opening headquarters in Second Life.

Businesses such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, BMW, Reebok, Penguin and KPMG have a presence in Second Life, often with massively opulent and impressive headquarters. Apart from the cachet of being seen to be at the cutting-edge, businesses also use Second Life as a venue for recruitment fairs, a branding opportunity, a sales channel for both real and virtual commodities and also a provider of customer service.

For example, Dell allows users to choose and customize their PCs and have them delivered in the real world, just as if the user had been on a standard website. The UK law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse allows people to meet representatives of the firm, and hosts real-time conferencing for its global staff members at a very low cost.

It is not too far-fetched to say that Second Life, or another virtual world, will be the channel of choice for some customers to receive service or sales assistance - it is, after all, just another way of providing contact center services or web-based self-service. Waiting in a Second Life office should also be a less boring experience than holding for a contact center agent, with residents able to wander around the Second Life world, watch videos, read information or talk to other people while waiting their turn.

However, there are very real legal concerns around Second Life, particularly from the copyright and trademark perspectives, as residents can create exact copies of real-life products without the copyright’s owner being involved. Policing such copyright issues is also fraught with difficulty, as it is difficult to establish the jurisdiction under which the offence is committed.

There are many other opportunities for a virtual online environment to develop the richness and value of the interaction, whether through a virtual world or otherwise, for example, posting demonstrations of how to assemble or use a product (such as flat-pack furniture) on a shared content website such as YouTube or the manufacturer’s own site. There are already numerous examples of ad-hoc knowledge bases that have developed on forums, especially around IT issues, as a quick, cheap and always-on alternative to speaking with someone in technical support.

Currently, the visual side of customer/business interaction is not being fully utilized. Graphical demonstrations of products are infrequent, and most websites usually restrict customers to views of 2-D static pictures. Collaborative walkthroughs would allow the customer to visualize the products more effectively, while offering the chance to ask questions at the same time. Customers could also send pictures to the contact center via a mobile phone for example, showing damage for insurance purposes or to request a spare part.


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SECTION 4: INCREASING PROFITABILITY

Within this section: Not only are contact centers under pressure to reduce their costs, but many - either directly or indirectly - are also major revenue-generators for their businesses. Although much responsibility for revenue generation lies with senior management, production and sales divisions, the contact center also has an important part to play in maximizing revenues through selling the right product to the right customer at the right time (aided by a CRM system or similar), and through proactive and efficient outbound selling.

Topics include:

• CRM: " The greatest inhibitor to increasing the amount of cross-selling and up-selling is the concern that service agents do not have the necessary skills of sales agents."

• Outbound automation: " Respondents using predictive dialers have an average call attempt rate of more

than double those operations using manual dialing, translating into a far superior live contact rate as well."

• Hosted and managed solutions: " Those contact center respondents who have actually implemented a

hosted or managed solution have generally found that it has delivered significant advantages. 63% of respondents agreed that the overall cost of ownership was cheaper, 80% said that they had been able to use more powerful functionality and 65% said that changes to the system were now easier."




SECTION EXTRACT: THE CHANGE IN OUTBOUND ACTIVITY

The single most popular outbound activity this year is proactive customer service - a strong brand builder as well as an effective call avoidance tactic, up strongly from 17% last year. However, sales calls of all types account overall for 51% of outbound activity (down from 53% in 2008), with renewals to existing customers taking over from calls to new customers this year as the top sales-related outbound activity.

Cross-selling and up-selling to existing customers rises to 16% this year, up from 14% in 2008.

Figure 3: Outbound activity

Vertical market patterns are very different from each other, and there is not even a great deal of homogeneity within sectors, so it is not possible to show specific data points without being misleading. However, there are some interesting findings to bring out.

Over 70% of the transport & travel sector's outbound activity is proactive customer service, advising of delays and deliveries in the main. The manufacturing sector is also actively seeking and giving information up and down the supply chain.

The outsourcing and TMT sectors are the hungriest for new business ad most likely to cold-call (within the law, of course). The outsourcing sector, as might be expected, is keen on all types of sales with 78% of its outbound activity being sales-related.

The contract-based business models, often found in finance and TMT, are most likely to be carrying out renewal sales calls to existing customers. The retail & distribution sector carried out a lot of debt collection.




SECTION 5: CHOOSING A LOCATION

Within this section: Choosing a contact center location is a complex business, involving elements such as labor force and quality, transport links, the availability of the right buildings, labor cost, external assistance and the historic links of the company with the area. The section asks incumbent contact centers to rate the area in which they are located in seven ways:

• Cost-effectiveness of staff • Quality of staff. • Availability of staff • Transport links • Support from the regional development agency and other organizations • Future expansion possibilities • Availability of suitable buildings. The section also investigates the effect of a city center, business park or rural contact center position on the quality of location.

SECTION EXTRACT:

An interesting pattern thrown up here is the North-South divide along the importance of contact centers to the division. The southern divisions – despite a large number of agent positions and contact centers in the Southern Atlantic division – do not rely on the contact center industry to the same extent as the New England and Middle Atlantic divisions, for example. Unsurprisingly, the raw contact center and agent position distribution seems to follow the general areas of high population – the North-East, Texas, Eastern Seaboard, California and Great Lakes.


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SECTION 6: HR MANAGEMENT

Within this section: With HR accounting for 70-75% of operational cost, issues such as attrition, recruitment and training are always towards the front of any contact center manager's mind. This section looks at how time and money are spent on the human element to contact centers.

Topics include:

• Agent attrition rates (by vertical market, contact center size, location type, activity type and region): "After 2008's very high mean attrition rate of 42%, rates have declined significantly this year, down to a mean of 34% and median of 24%, showing that the economic downturn has taken some of the HR pressures off."

• Causes of agent attrition: "… psychometric testing and the assessment of behavior and character as well

as competency will go a long way to stopping the wrong type of person for the job at source." • Methods of motivating and retaining agents: "The most effective way of motivating agents was to

reward them through directly linking bonuses with performance… however, this has to be monitored closely, as it's often possible to hit a goal (e.g. a shorter average call duration) by failing in other areas (e.g. putting the phone down on a customer in mid-sentence to keep the average call duration down)."

• Destination of departing agents: "A significant number of contact center agents see contact centers as a

stop-gap role: in most cases, the conventional wisdom that says agents leave a contact center to go to a competitor is wrong."

• Absence: "…contact centers in rural areas have a much lower absence rate…agents who don't have to

fight through traffic on those borderline days when they feel a bit off-color may end up choosing to go into work more often than their urban equivalents who just can't face the commute."

• Recruitment methods: "…if job roles have been filled, the recruitment process is deemed to have been a

success, but how many of these new recruits turn out to be no-shows, leave before the induction course is complete, or shortly into the job? These recruits are gauged to be part of the attrition problem, when in fact, they are indicative of a recruitment problem."

• The cost and purpose of recruitment: " The financial services and insurance sectors pay the most to

recruit a new agent, and the outsourcing sector lowest."

• The most important attributes of a successful contact center agent: "Empathy - the ability to see another’s point of view - is the most important attribute for a contact center agent. This is a characteristic which is hard to learn, but can be identified in the recruitment phase through personality testing…"

• Graduate agents: "Currently, 38% of the contact center agents from this year's respondent pool are college graduates…the retail & distribution sector is very keen to swell its college-educated workforce, as is the service sector.

• Salaries and bonuses: "Against a backdrop of economic gloom and with considerable redundancies across the board, contact center salaries are reported to have held up surprisingly well."




SECTION EXTRACT: THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES OF A SUCCESSFUL AGENT

This year’s survey investigated the attributes that contact center managers believe are most important for a successful contact center agent to have. While each contact center has different ideas, some key findings emerged.

Figure 4: The most important abilities or characteristics of a successful contact center agent

25% of respondents stated that empathy - the ability to see another’s point of view - is the no.1 most important attribute for a contact center agent to have, with a further 29% placing it 2nd or 3rd. This is a characteristic which is hard to learn, and which is ripe for identifying in the recruitment phase through personality testing, for example. Empathy is important for an agent to display in order to make the caller feel that someone is listening to and understanding them, and that they are trying to solve their issue, rather than just seeing the caller as a nuisance. As such, empathy is vital for improving customer satisfaction and loyalty, cross-selling and up-selling.

The attribute of reliability appears second most-often in the top 3 agent requirements. Reliable agents have low absence rates and keep working away at their tasks, a trait which the process-focused contact center prizes highly. Amongst other traits, sales ability of course was rated no.1 in most sales-focused environments, and the ability to multi-task was often placed no.2 or 3.

The picture painted of key attributes of successful contact center agents is one of a versatile, reliable good listener - nothing flashy or highly-strung, nor a simple automaton which is happy to plod on doing the same thing for hours.


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SECTION 7: STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

Within this section: HR issues, normally to the forefront of what concerns contact center managers the most, take something of a back seat at the moment. There is a general and growing feeling, perhaps driven hard this year by cuts in investment, that the technology in place is letting the operation down, or at least, preventing it moving forward to the extent that it needs.

The need to measure and improve customer satisfaction, and its impact upon profitability, has become an obsession throughout the industry, which is positive for customers and businesses. However, much of the short-term investment coming from the wider business seems to be focused towards improving efficiency than effectiveness. As many of the issues that the contact center has to deal with come as a result of sub-optimal or even broken processes, both within and without the contact center, spending money on doing unnecessary things more quickly seems strange.

Topics include:

• Outsourcing: " The use of a third-party to survey customer satisfaction is a very strong trend which has become even more popular over the past few years, as the desire to improve customer satisfaction has continued to hold its position as the top priority for contact centers."

• Planned expenditure: "Many contact centers last replaced their telephony systems in 1998 or 1999, to

avoid potential problems around Y2K. Many of these systems are overdue for replacement, with businesses often moving to IP."

• Pressing managerial issues: "Achieving set metrics' has dropped from no.1 to no.4 this year, as profit-

driven metrics replace operational metrics in the contact center industry's collective psyche. Interestingly, staff attrition reduction has fallen off the radar entirely for many of the report's respondents, as attrition drops and more important matters come to the fore."

• Industry trends: "Unlike previous years, where customer satisfaction measurement was comfortably at

the top of the pile, there is a wide and growing acknowledgment that business processes have to change, and the work that the contact center does will need to be more closely coupled with the back office and also the wider business."

• The contact center in 5 years' time: "40% of respondents expected agents to be paid considerably more,

based upon the increased complexity of the role and knowledge requirements that the agent of the future is expected to have."




SECTION EXTRACT: THE IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRY TRENDS

Respondents were asked how important specific industry trends would be to them in the future, and unlike previous years, where customer satisfaction measurement was comfortably at the top of the pile, there is a wide and growing acknowledgment that business processes have to change, and the work that the contact center does will need to be more closely coupled with the back office and also the wider business. This was felt especially strongly by the respondents which kick off a great many back office processes through their work in the contact center, such as the healthcare and insurance sectors. As many of the calls that most contact centers take are about failures elsewhere in the organization to deliver what the contact center has promised, fixing broken or sub-optimized processes, and allowing the contact center agent to access the relevant information is vital to getting a satisfactory conclusion to these calls. Mending the processes that are identified as broken could have a major impact upon call avoidance as well.

Figure 5: The importance of industry trends

The ability to measure customer satisfaction accurately is still seen as very important, and a solution provider who can offer a quick and cost-effective way of measuring customer satisfaction and linking it to changes in profit should win a lot of business. Increasing the levels of self-service to take pressure off contact center costs while providing a better service was rated as no.3 in the list, and represents perhaps the most acceptable way to benefit both customer and business by reducing costs while providing customers with the ability to get what they need.

Improving the desktop to make it easier for agents to do their job was rated as the fourth most-important trend, especially by financial services respondents. These agents often have to deal with multiple systems within a call, and also often have long wrap-up times as well as the excessive training requirements that dealing with labyrinthine systems cause. Multimedia has jumped upwards again this year, with respondents in the healthcare, public sector and retail industries particularly interested in what it can offer.


DEDICATED TO SERVING THE CONTACT CENTER INDUSTRY

ABOUT THE AMERICAN TELESERVICES ASSOCIATION

The American Teleservices Association (ATA) is the only non-profit trade organization dedicated exclusively to the advancement of companies that utilize contact centers as an integral channel of operations. ATA members include companies with inbound or outbound contact centers, users of Teleservices, trainers, consultants, and equipment suppliers who initiate, facilitate, and generate telephone, Internet, and e-mail sales, service, and support.

Founded in 1983, the American Teleservices Association (ATA) represents more than 4,000 contact centers that account for over 1.8 million professionals worldwide. Contact centers offer traditional and interactive services that support the e-commerce revolution, provide specialized customer service for Fortune 500 companies, and generate annual sales of more than $900 billion.

ATA provides leadership in the professional and ethical use of the telephone for conducting business and is committed to serving the needs of its members, recommending the highest standards of quality for the channel and protecting the rights of consumers. Members benefit from the ATA’s strong advocacy at the national and state level; advanced and timely educational opportunities and business building events; advocacy and support in the public realm; and rich and trusted resources for Teleservices professionals.

Our Mission

ATA is committed to serving the needs of its members by recommending the highest standards of quality for the channel and protecting the rights of consumers. ATA values members by providing essential business elements in the form of:

• forums for networking at international, national and regional levels; • programs for business learning; • advocacy of Teleservices users' and providers' interests before State and Federal government; • research on consumer and regulatory topics of interest to Teleservices users and providers; • consensus, voluntary guidelines for industries who utilize Teleservices in their business operations; • information about global developments in Teleservices; and • education of the general public and media to promote Teleservices providers' and users' business interests of

their strong commitment to customer service and satisfaction.

Experience the ATA

The benefits of membership in the ATA are many, but active participation is the only way to make the most of it. By attending local and national events, engaging in meaningful communication with fellow members, and taking advantage of business opportunities, ATA members are contributing to the active, healthy growth of the Teleservices industry.

Explore the many membership opportunities to find fits for you and your organization.

• Grow your business through local and national networking opportunities • Attend chapter events to leverage business and topics specific to your region • Learn about compliance to reduce business risks • Support your industry with strong government representation • Know how state and federal legislation may impact your business • Join ATA Committees which focus on specific topics that affect your industry • Take advantage of discounts from select vendors and on ATA Events • Understand how the ATA Self Regulatory Organization can facilitate the complications of regulation and

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Most importantly, ATA membership affects your bottom line. Business leaders know that building a business is often about having the right connections, and ATA membership makes that easy.

Protection from Government Regulation

Simply put, ATA diligently works to educate lawmakers regarding the importance of the Teleservices industry and to aggressively oppose potentially damaging legislation affecting the industry. ATA is an active voice for the Teleservices profession on Capitol Hill. Whether testifying in front of Congress, working with the regulatory agencies, participating in the US Government Affairs Committees, or personally contacting members of Congress, ATA is working for the benefit of its members.

Business Networking

All of ATA’s activities place specific emphasis on enhancing business relationships and forging new ones with industry colleagues. Teleservices leaders know that ATA is the only professional association 100% dedicated to serving Teleservices professionals. Offering you easy access to industry leaders in your area of interest and expertise is just one more way ATA membership contributes to your bottom line.

Education

As the host of numerous local and national events, ATA provides attendees with cutting edge professional development opportunities. We feature industry experts responsible for the newest trends in our industry at the ATA Annual Convention & Expo, the ATA Washington Summit, and at regional events held across the country. ATA also conducts complimentary seminars on Industry Compliance on a regional basis. ATA Chapters present local events several times per year.

Communication

Members receive relevant industry news from the ATA. The organization maintains frequent contact with members through eConnections, the association's bi-weekly email newsletter. This online publication provides breaking news, emerging issues, in-depth analyses, association news and reminders, and links to crucial information for the Teleservices professional. The ATA also provides a robust website serving as the industry's first stop for information and numerous social networking opportunities.

ADVOCACY – EDUCATION – NETWORKING

www.ataconnect.org

317.816.9336

http://www.ataconnect.org/

http://www.ataconnect.org



APPENDIX:

CONTENTS WITHIN THE FULL US CONTACT CENTER DECISION-MAKERS' GUIDE

INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

HOW TO USE THE REPORT SEGMENTATIONS

Vertical markets Size band Contact center type

THE STRUCTURE OF THE DATASETS DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF THIS REPORT

SUPPLIER DIRECTORY IMPROVING QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE

QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT Challenges to improving quality Quality assurance methods Call recording and analytics Performance management and the role of the supervisor

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Customer satisfaction measurement techniques Complaints Virtual Queue management

TRAINING AND COACHING Induction course training methods Time required to become fully-productive Induction course costs Ongoing training and coaching Team leader coaching and development

MAXIMIZING EFFICIENCY AND AGENT OPTIMIZATION

CONTACT CENTER PERFORMANCE METRICS Agent activity Call duration Call abandonment Speed to answer First-call resolution Call transfers Cost per call

BUDGET Operating expenditure, 2009 Changes in contact center size, operating and capital expenditure, 2008-2009

NEW WAYS OF WORKING Virtual contact centers Homeworking and telecottages The enterprise as the contact center




IP AND CONVERGENCE INCREASING EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS WITHIN THE CALL

The unified desktop Voice biometrics CTI, call routing and screen popping

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT HEADSETS

Wireless and IP Headsets Acoustic shock

NEW MEDIA AND THE CUSTOMER OF THE FUTURE

MULTIMEDIA MANAGEMENT AND THE UNIVERSAL QUEUE Email management Multimedia Blending

NICHE CHANNELS SMS Text chat and web collaboration Video and IVVR

SELF-SERVICE The use of IVR and speech recognition The use of self-service

THE CUSTOMER OF THE FUTURE Social networking

INCREASING PROFITABILITY

CRM, CROSS-SELLING AND UP-SELLING HOSTED AND MANAGED SOLUTIONS

What types of company should consider hosted/network solutions? Drivers for hosted and managed solutions The value proposition of hosted/network solutions CPE or hosted/network solutions - or both? Checklist when choosing a hosted/network solution Results of using hosted and managed solutions

OUTBOUND AUTOMATION Outbound activity Dialers Effects of legislation Call blending The role of mobile telephony on outbound calling

CHOOSING A LOCATION

THE US CONTACT CENTER INDUSTRY STRUCTURE BY DIVISION DIVISIONAL RATINGS CITY VS BUSINESS PARK VS RURAL




HR MANAGEMENT ATTRITION

Agent attrition by vertical market Agent attrition by contact center size Agent attrition by contact center activity type Causes of staff attrition Methods of motivating and retaining agents Destinations of departing agents

ABSENCE RECRUITMENT

Recruitment methods The cost and purpose of recruitment Most important attributes of a successful contact center agent Graduate agents

SALARIES Salaries by vertical market New agent salaries Experienced agent salaries Team leader salaries Contact center manager salaries Salaries by contact center activity type and size Bonuses

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS

OUTSOURCING The use of tactical and operational outsourcing Drivers for tactical and project-based outsourcing Choosing an outsourcer

PLANNED EXPENDITURE PRESSING MANAGERIAL ISSUES INDUSTRY TRENDS THE CONTACT CENTER IN 5 YEARS' TIME

APPENDIX: ABOUT CONTACTBABEL




LIST OF TABLES

FIGURE 1: VERTICAL MARKET DEFINITIONS FIGURE 2: WHAT DOES 'QUALITY' REALLY MEAN WITHIN YOUR CONTACT CENTER? FIGURE 3: IS 'QUALITY' AN INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL MEASUREMENT (BY VERTICAL MARKET) FIGURE 4: WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO QUALITY IMPROVEMENT THAT YOU FACE? FIGURE 5: THE USE OF SCRIPTING FIGURE 6: QA METHODS FIGURE 7: SUPERVISOR ACTIVITIES FIGURE 8: HOW TRUE? 'IT'S OFTEN DIFFICULT TO ALIGN AGENTS' PERFORMANCE TARGETS WITH CORPORATE OBJECTIVES' FIGURE 9: HOW TRUE? 'IT IS TOO COSTLY AND COMPLEX TO INTEGRATE OUR DATA SOURCES TO PROVIDE A FULL VIEW OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE CONTACT CENTER' FIGURE 10: HOW TRUE? 'OUR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION CAN IDENTIFY TRAINING NEEDS RIGHT DOWN TO AN INDIVIDUAL'S LEVEL' FIGURE 11: MOST DESIRED IMPROVEMENTS TO MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS FIGURE 12: PROPORTION OF CUSTOMERS GIVING MAXIMUM CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING FIGURE 13: EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY TECHNIQUES FIGURE 14: PROPORTION OF CALLS RECEIVED THAT ARE COMPLAINTS / TARGET OF COMPLAINTS, BY VERTICAL MARKET (SORTED BY LARGEST PROPORTION OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE CONTACT CENTER - HIGH-TO-LOW) FIGURE 15: REASONS GIVEN FOR DISLIKE OF CONTACT CENTER QUEUING FIGURE 16: USE OF WEBSITE 'CALL-ME' BUTTONS AND CALL-BACK OPTIONS, BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 17: EFFECTIVENESS OF INDUCTION COURSE TRAINING METHODS FIGURE 18: NUMBER OF WEEKS FOR A NEW AGENT TO BECOME FULLY PRODUCTIVE, BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 19: NUMBER OF WEEKS FOR A NEW AGENT TO BECOME FULLY PRODUCTIVE, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 20: COST OF INDUCTION COURSE BY HEAD, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 21: COST OF INDUCTION COURSE PER HEAD, BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 22: COST OF INDUCTION COURSE PER HEAD, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 23: TYPE OF ONGOING TRAINING TIME, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 24: TYPE OF ONGOING TRAINING TIME, BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 25: TYPES OF ONGOING TRAINING (HOURS PER AGENT PER WEEK) FIGURE 26: WEEKLY HOURS OF COACHING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR TEAM LEADERS, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 27: CONTACT CENTER METRICS FIGURE 28: AGENT ACTIVITY BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 29: AVERAGE CALL DURATION (SERVICE & SALES), BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 30: CALL ABANDONMENT RATES BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 31: CALL ABANDONMENT RATES, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 32: AVERAGE SPEED TO ANSWER, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 33: FIRST-CALL RESOLUTION RATE FIGURE 34: USE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF FCR MEASUREMENT METHOD FIGURE 35: CALL TRANSFERS BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 36: COST PER INBOUND CALL FIGURE 37: CONTACT CENTER OPERATING EXPENDITURE FIGURE 38: CONTACT CENTER OPERATING EXPENDITURE BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 39: CHANGES IN OPEX AND CAPEX, 2008-2009 FIGURE 40: CHANGES IN OPERATING EXPENDITURE 2008-2009, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 41: CHANGES IN CAPITAL EXPENDITURE 2008-2009, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 42: ACTUAL AND EXPECTED CHANGES IN CONTACT CENTER SIZE, 2008-2010 FIGURE 43: VIRTUAL CONTACT CENTER COMMERCIAL AND OPERATIONAL BENEFITS




FIGURE 44: RESPONDENTS WITH MULTI-SITE CONTACT CENTER OPERATIONS, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 45: THE VIRTUALIZATION OF MULTISITE CONTACT CENTERS, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 46: BENEFITS OF VIRTUALIZING A CONTACT CENTER FIGURE 47: REASONS FOR NOT IMPLEMENTING A VIRTUAL CONTACT CENTER FIGURE 48: OPINION: "IT IS / WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO MANAGE HOMEWORKING AGENTS EFFECTIVELY" FIGURE 49: OPINION: "HOMEWORKING WOULD BRING US FLEXIBILITY TO ADD AGENTS AND BE OPEN LONGER HOURS" FIGURE 50: OPINION: "HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES ARE TOO GREAT" FIGURE 51: OPINION: "HOMEWORKERS WOULD NOT BE AS PRODUCTIVE AS AGENTS BASED IN A CENTRAL LOCATION" FIGURE 52: OPINION: "HOMEWORKING COULD BE USED AS A PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE OR REWARD" FIGURE 53: OPINION: "MANY STAFF WOULD NOT HAVE ANYWHERE SUITABLE TO WORK IN THEIR HOMES" FIGURE 54: CURRENT USE OF IP IN THE CONTACT CENTER, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 55: FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION OF PURE IP, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 56: MAIN DRIVERS FOR MOVING TO IP, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 57: HOW HAS IMPLEMENTING IP IMPROVED YOUR CONTACT CENTER? (BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE) FIGURE 58: USE OF MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS ACROSS VERTICAL MARKETS FIGURE 59: AGENT ACTIVITY AS IT RELATES TO THE UNIFIED DESKTOP FIGURE 60: IN-CALL ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE SOURCES FOR AGENTS FIGURE 61: PROPORTION OF CALLS REQUIRING CALLER IDENTIFICATION, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 62: CALLER IDENTITY AUTHENTICATION METHODS FIGURE 63: TIME TAKEN TO AUTHENTICATE CALLER IDENTITY, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 64: USE OF TOUCHTONE IVR AND SPEECH RECOGNITION TO ROUTE CALLS, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 65: USE OF TOUCHTONE IVR AND SPEECH RECOGNITION TO ROUTE CALLS, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 66: CAPABILITY OF ROUTING CALLS AUTOMATICALLY DEPENDING ON THE CUSTOMER HISTORY FIGURE 67: USE OF WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 68: OPINIONS ON THE USES OF WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT FIGURE 69: PROPORTION OF HEADSETS REPLACED ANNUALLY FIGURE 70: COST OF REPLACING A HEADSET FIGURE 71: MULTIMEDIA CHANNELS FIGURE 72: INBOUND INTERACTIONS BY TYPE FIGURE 73: INBOUND INTERACTIONS THAT ARE EMAIL, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 74: TIME TAKEN TO ANSWER AN EMAIL SATISFACTORILY FIGURE 75: USE OF MULTIMEDIA BLENDED AGENTS BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 76: METHODS OF MULTIMEDIA BLENDING FIGURE 77: USE OF BLENDED MULTIMEDIA AGENTS AND AVERAGE TIME TO RESPOND TO AN EMAIL FIGURE 78: OPINIONS ON MULTIMEDIA FIGURE 79: CUSTOMER VIEWS ON SMS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND MARKETING FIGURE 80: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF TOUCHTONE IVR FIGURE 81: SOME FUNCTIONS FOR SELF-SERVICE, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 82: OVERALL PROPORTION OF CALLS HANDLED ENTIRE THROUGH SELF-SERVICE FIGURE 83: THE POTENTIAL FOR SELF-SERVICE, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 84: INHIBITORS OF MOVEMENT FROM TOUCHTONE IVR TO AUTOMATED SPEECH RECOGNITION FIGURE 85: AGENTS CAPABLE OF CROSS-SELLING AND UP-SELLING, WITH FUTURE REQUIREMENTS FIGURE 86: INHIBITORS TO CROSS-SELLING AND UP-SELLING FIGURE 87: COMPARED TO 12 MONTHS AGO, HOW HAS THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE FACTORS CHANGED? FIGURE 88: HAVE HOSTED OR MANAGED SERVICES HAD ANY ADVANTAGES? FIGURE 89: OUTBOUND ACTIVITY FIGURE 90: TYPES OF OUTBOUND AUTOMATED DIALER




FIGURE 91: OUTBOUND CALL ATTEMPTS AND LIVE CONTACTS PER AGENT PER HOUR, BY DIALER TYPE FIGURE 92: THE EFFECT OF RECENT LEGISLATION ON OUTBOUND CALLING, BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 93: USE OF CALL BLENDING BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 94: CONTACT CENTERS BY US DIVISION FIGURE 95: AGENT POSITIONS BY US DIVISION FIGURE 96: CONTACT CENTER EMPLOYMENT BY US DIVISION FIGURE 97: RANKINGS OF LOCATIONS BY FACTOR FIGURE 98: DIVISIONAL RATINGS: OVERALL SCORES FIGURE 99: CITY CENTER VS EDGE-OF-TOWN VS RURAL CONTACT CENTERS, BY CATEGORY FIGURE 100: CITY CENTER VS EDGE-OF-TOWN VS RURAL CONTACT CENTERS, BY CATEGORY FIGURE 101: AGENT ATTRITION RATE RANGES FIGURE 102: AGENT ATTRITION BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 103: CHANGES IN AGENT ATTRITION RATE IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS FIGURE 104: AGENT ATTRITION RATE BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 105: CHANGES IN AGENT ATTRITION IN PAST 12 MONTHS, BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 106: AGENT ATTRITION RATE BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 107: CHANGE IN AGENT ATTRITION IN PAST 12 MONTHS, BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 111: REASONS FOR AGENT ATTRITION, BY VERTICAL MARKET (RANKED IN ORDER) FIGURE 112: METHODS OF MOTIVATING AND RETAINING AGENTS FIGURE 113: DESTINATION OF DEPARTING AGENTS FIGURE 114: SHORT-TERM ABSENCE BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 115: SHORT-TERM ABSENCE BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 116: SHORT-TERM ABSENCE BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY FIGURE 117: SHORT-TERM ABSENCE BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 118: SHORT-TERM ABSENCE BY LOCATION TYPE FIGURE 119: THE SUCCESS OF RECRUITMENT METHODS FIGURE 121: PROPORTION OF RECRUITMENT EFFORT GIVEN TO AGENT REPLACEMENT, BY VERTICAL MARKET FIGURE 122: THE MOST IMPORTANT ABILITIES OR CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUCCESSFUL CONTACT CENTER AGENT FIGURE 123: PROPORTION OF AGENTS WHO ARE GRADUATES, AND PROPORTION OF AGENTS WHOM CONTACT CENTER MANAGEMENT WOULD LIKE TO BE GRADUATES FIGURE 124: AGENT SALARY CHANGES IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS FIGURE 125: SALARIES BY VERTICAL MARKET BY JOB ROLE FIGURE 127: NEW AGENT SALARIES FIGURE 129: EXPERIENCED AGENT SALARIES FIGURE 131: TEAM LEADER SALARIES FIGURE 125: CONTACT CENTER MANAGER SALARIES FIGURE 135: SALARIES BY CONTACT CENTER ACTIVITY TYPE FIGURE 136: SALARIES BY CONTACT CENTER SIZE FIGURE 137: ANNUAL BONUS FOR SERVICE AND SALES AGENTS FIGURE 138: SERVICE-RELATED PERFORMANCE TARGETS USED FOR BONUSES FIGURE 140: TYPE AND AMOUNT OF WORK OUTSOURCED FIGURE 131: DRIVERS FOR TACTICAL AND PROJECT-BASED OUTSOURCING FIGURE 142: MOST IMPORTANT AREAS OF EXPENDITURE IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS FIGURE 144: MOST PRESSING MANAGERIAL ISSUES FIGURE 146: THE IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRY TRENDS FIGURE 148: HOW WILL THE CONTACT CENTER LOOK IN 5 YEARS' TIME?




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